Coated fabrics are well known in the art. Typically, such fabrics include a woven base cloth formed of a polyester or nylon material which is then coated on both sides by a weather-resistant material such as polyvinylchloride. Panels of such a fabric are then attached to form the finished product which could be something as simple as a tarpaulin for an athletic field or, more frequently, an outdoor building structure such as a tension structure or air-supported structure such as is used to house tennis courts or the like. The panels are most often attached to form such final products by overlapping the edges of two panels and thermal or radio-frequency welding the overlapped edges together to form a seam.
Oftentimes these fabrics are also further coated, at least on one side, with other materials such as a film sold under the trademark TEDLAR.RTM. by DuPont. Such materials are advantageous for the coated fabric in that they provide enhanced weather resistance, in that they are more readily cleaned, and in that they present a more aesthetically pleasing appearance. Despite the advantages of the TEDLAR.RTM.-coated fabric, its use is limited or problematic in that TEDLAR.RTM. material is not susceptible to thermal or radio-frequency welding to form the finished product.
The only manner in which to accomplish such welding of a fabric coated with the TEDLAR.RTM. or similar materials would be to remove that material near the edges of a panel so that the polyvinylchloride therebelow could be welded to another similarly formed panel. However, because the thickness of these films is typically about 0.001 inch, with the total thickness of the coated fabric being approximately 0.035 inch, the removal of the film is quite difficult. Such is particularly the case when the overall thickness of the fabric varies, as is often the case. To date, there is no known device which can accurately remove this thin film of material without damage to the base fabric irrespective of any variances in overall thickness of the fabric.